A MOTHER has been jailed after nicking £21,000 to fund fertility treatment to conceive her SIXTH baby – a scam which put her firm out of business.

Accounts manager Donna Bell forged company cheques to bankroll her IVF, despite already having five children.

Bell, 37, whose children are aged between 19 years and 17 months and who is expecting her seventh, was sentenced to 16 months.

Newcastle crown court heard she defrauded struggling T Shield Ltd, which made and installed ventilation systems, even after her colleagues offered to take a pay cut. The firm has since gone into liquidation.

Director Neil Shield said: “I trusted Donna with my life and thought of her as a friend, but all the time she was stealing from us.

“I was more shocked about the betrayal than the money. I sat next to Donna every day. My wife and I sent her flowers when she was on maternity leave. I couldn’t believe she had gone behind my back.”

Co-director David Hedges added: “I didn’t think Donna was capable of something so sly and calculating. We trusted her completely.”

Bell, of Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, pleaded guilty to three counts of fraud. The judge told her: “The consequence of your forgery was that the company ended up in liquidation.”

After the court hearing, Neil said: “When we told the staff the company was going under, they were devastated. One lad was crying on the shop floor. Some of the staff were 60-year-old men who haven’t been able to find other jobs, though we have tried to help them.”